Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

This conversation is moderated according to USA TODAY's
community rules.
Please read the rules before joining the discussion.

Fear and frustration on Walnut Street following York arson

Ted Czech, YorkDailyRecord
Published 1:36 p.m. ET May 5, 2015

CLOSE

The 500 block of Walnut Street in York smolders on the third floor Tuesday in York the morning after a fire. City fire crews quickly extinguished it.(Photo: Paul Kuehnel &#8212; Daily Record&#47;Sunday News)

Anthony Colon, who walks with a cane and lives on the top floor of a row home in the 400 block of Walnut Street, said if a fire ever broke out near his home, he's not sure he would make it out in time.

Colon, 24, said he was shot on Aug. 1 on North Newberry Street and now lives with a bullet lodged in his spine.

"God forbid something was to happen where I live; I can't just run out," he said Tuesday.

The day before, a fire broke out in the 500 block of Walnut Street, damaging seven row homes, displacing 11 residents and causing $200,000 in damage. Investigators quickly ruled the fire an arson.

"We do have some information that we're going to sort through," York City Fire/Rescue Services Chief David Michaels.

Monday's fire was set at 506 Walnut Street, one of several vacant homes in the row, Michaels said. It followed one late last month in the 300 block of Walnut Street, when trash was set on fire outside a home; officials ruled that fire arson as well.

"That street's been hit hard," Michaels said.

Michaels said there have been two more arsons on the street in recent years: One in 400 block last year, and one in the 300 block in 2013.

Still, he dispelled the belief among some residents that there is a serial arsonist targeting Walnut Street.

"At this time, it doesn't appear to be connected," he said Tuesday. "We've just got some different information that leads us to believe they're not."

Residents react

As the fire raged Monday and firefighters toiled to extinguish it, several residents said it was a regular occurrence to see juveniles breaking into 502, 504 and 506 Walnut Street.

"That had to be set," said Lynn Walker, 61, who lives nearby. "Kids are inside of them a lot. We called the cops all the time."

Linda Weaver, 57,who lives just across from the fire, said she was watching TV with her daughter when they heard an emergency vehicle outside.

"Somebody had to set that," she said Monday.

Clean-up efforts

By early Tuesday morning, restoration crews were on the scene, boarding up some of the houses.

"It's a damn shame somebody has to go and do that to your house," he said. "A lot of them (homes burned in fire) just had work done to them."

Joe Weaver said that on Monday, he saw a couple of embers from the fire fly across the street, although none touched off a fire at his home.

Wheelchair-bound George Rainey, who sat with Joe Weaver, also lives across from where the fire occurred. He said 504 and 512 Walnut Street had recently been remodeled and that tenants had just moved in to 512.

In addition to being concerned for his safety, Colon was also saddened by Monday's arson, saying that although Walnut Street has endured criticism of being blighted and crime-ridden, it has many redeeming qualities, including a halfway house and a foster family.

"You got a lot of people who live here who are trying to get back on track with their lives," he said.